Two U.S. citizens have been arrested in Venezuela on charges that remain unclear, but which President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday claimed were related to the intent to “practice terrorism.”
Maduro said “very high level” Americans that he branded “mercenaries” were part of a group of seven who were arrested, though he did not provide any evidence or details of the arrests.
“Just today we’ve captured seven foreign mercenaries, including two important mercenaries from the United States,” said Maduro, according to a Reuters report.
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Maduro – who is set to once again take up the top office on Friday for a third term despite the widely contested results of the July election – said two Colombians and three Ukrainians were also arrested.
He reportedly said his security forces had arrested 125 foreign mercenaries from 25 different countries who he claimed had entered the country with the intent “to practice terrorism against the Venezuelan people.”
A spokesperson from the State Department flatly rejected Maduro’s claims and told Fox News Digital, “Any claims of U.S. involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false.”
“The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela. As Maduro and his associates have shown in the past, they may detain and jail, without justification or due process, U.S. citizens who enter Venezuela,” the spokesperson added.
The identities of the individuals arrested have not been released due to “privacy and other considerations.”
Though the spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the department is “working to gather more information” and remains “concerned” for the Americans detained in Venezuela.
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It remains unclear how many Americans are currently held in Venezuela following the significant prisoner swap in 2023 when Washington and Caracas negotiated the release of dozens of prisoners, including 10 Americans, in exchange for Colombian businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of Maduro.
His remarks coincided with a visit to D.C. from opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who Washington has ardently backed, and who has been declared the president-elect by several nations, including the U.S.
On Monday, President Biden re-emphasized the U.S.’s position on the results of the election – which the Maduro-aligned courts have declared as a victory for the soon-to-be three-term president – and called Gonzalez the “true winner” of the July race.
Venezuelan authorites have refused to release ballot-box results to support their victory claims, while Gonzalez’s team has reportedly published thousands of scanned copies of voting machine results that ballot box observers gathered in the days after the election – reportedly accounting for 80% of the votes cast that showed a win for the opposition leader.
Maduro’s accusations regarding a U.S.-crafted coup plot escalated in the weeks following his internationally contested election and by September the Venezuelan leader was issuing claims that the CIA had orchestrated a plot to overthrow his government and said some 400 rifles had been seized and a Navy SEAL arrested.
Isaias Medina, former Venezuelan diplomat to the United Nations, said Maduro’s latest arrests and comments “align with his patterns of ‘hostage diplomacy.'”
“These accusations, widely viewed as baseless, appear to be another ploy to shift attention away from Maduro’s illegitimate inauguration and suppress dissent ahead of anticipated protests,” Medina explained to Fox News Digital. “By tying foreign nationals to these allegations, Maduro seeks to stoke fear of external interference while creating convenient scapegoats for his failing leadership and attempting to legalize state terrorism.
“The timing of these charges raises concerns about Maduro’s broader strategy,” he added. “Moreover, the theatrical accusations serve to justify crackdowns on opposition protests, intimidating Venezuelans into silence as the country sinks deeper into economic and humanitarian crises.
“These actions underline the lengths Maduro will go to maintain control, despite mounting domestic discontent and growing calls for accountability on the world stage,” Medina said.
The State Department has listed Venezuela as a Level 4 “do not travel” location due to the security threats Americans face there.
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